Tuesday, 6 March 2018

John Humpheries House

John Humphries House in Stockwell
Street was the first purpose-built computer centre in Greenwich and the site of
a remarkable initiative by local government.

An early UK computer with an
electronic stored memory was the EDSAC machine developed at Cambridge
University in 1949. I caught the attention of J. Lyons & Co., who were
the managers of a highly successful teashop chain. They were also
innovators of management systems and found that the paperwork of stock control
in all of their branches greatly inhibited efficiency. Lyons therefore set
about building the first UK computer for business use. It was dubbed the LEO 1
machine; LEO standing for Lyons Electronic Office. It utilised mercury delay
lines for memory storage, and ran the world's first regular office job for
stock control in 1951. An offshoot company, LEO Computers Ltd., was formed in
1954 to market the technology and LE02 machines were installed in many British
offices, including Ford Motor Company, British Oxygen Company and the Ministry
of Pensions at Newcastle.

This success led to the invention of
the LE03 machine. This machine used panels of magnetic washers to store
programs and data. Memory size was limited, and programmers had to show great
ingenuity in the direct manipulation of memory in order to contain data. Files
were stored on magnetic tape reels and data was entered by completing batches
of forms, which were punched onto paper tape. Programs were written in a wholly
numeric language called Intercede, and the primitive operating system required
a great deal of operator intervention. LEO'S principal benefit was the ability
to print forms and tabulations at speeds of up to 1,000 lines a minute.

In 1960 these innovations caught the
attention of a Greenwich Councillor named John Humphries. He was
instrumental in the creation of a Joint Committee formed from the then
Metropolitan Boroughs of Greenwich, Woolwich, Deptford, Southwark, Bermondsey
and Camberwell, and this in turn set about the creation of a computer centre,
with the result that John Humphries house was built and officially opened. The
development of systems was placed in the hands of the Metropolitan Boroughs
Organisation & Methods Committee, another Joint Organisation serving
the needs of 28 Metropolitan Boroughs and managed by John Dive. They created a
computer division and it was based at John Humphries The first application was
Rate Accounting and this was followed by Payroll, General Ledger Accounting,
Job Costing, Stock Control, Creditor Payments, Miscellaneous Debtors,
Transport, Housing Rents, Electoral Registration, Library Cataloguing and Land
Use Registration. Subsequently The Forest and Bexley Hospitals and the
Bloodstock Agency also used the services of the site.

A major change took place in 1965
when London Government was re-organised and the centre then serviced the data
processing needs of the London Boroughs of Bexley, Greenwich and Southwark. As
computing developed it became financially viable for each local authority to
create its own computer installation. The need for a joint installation ceased
and the use of John Humphries House was discontinued, LEO Computers Ltd merged
with the computer interests of English Electric in 1963 to form English
Electric LEO, and later, English Electric Leo Marconi (EELM). Subsequent
mergers eventually found LEO incorporated into SCL in 1968. And the ICL machine
range took over new production.